Winding-machine



4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Grw. FOSTER.

wmome MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- L 1916.

Patented July 27, 1920.

G. W. FOSIER. WINDING MACHINE. APPLICATION HLEb OCT-7.19%.

1,347,626, Patented July 2-7, 1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTO 7 %o@/T BY F W ATTO NE G. W. FOSTER.

WINDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED on. 7. 1916.

Patented July 27, 1920.

' 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTo Y /06;z: R

ATTNE 6. W'. FOSTER.

WINDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1. 1916.

Patented July 27, 1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4- UNl'l'ED "STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. FOSTER, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO UNIVERSAL WIN'DING COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA- WINDING-MACHINE.

To all whom z't may concern:

Be it known-that I, GEORGE -W. Fos'rER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence, State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Winding- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in winding machines and particularly to conewinders of the friction-drive or drum-wound type. The object of my improvement is to control the position of the cone-holder or winding-mandrel in relation to the traverse of the thread-guide during its recession from the driving-drum or drive-roll as the cop builds'up thereon, whereby the formation of the cone is determined and regulated in .accordance with the preferred shape and proportions.

y improvements are directed especially to that type of cone-winder which operates to increase the taper of the cone from start to finish of the winding, whereby the pack age has a greater conicity on its outside than at its core, and wherein the ends of the cone assume a concave-convex shape. The usual practice with this method of winding is to increase the conicity of the package to a considerable extent in order to attain the maximum advantages of easier delivery of the yarn in unwinding it therefrom; but in most cases this change in the taper of the package has a tendency to shape the small end of the cone with too great a degree of concavity consistent with stability and firmness of the yarn-mass. That is to say, if the nose end of the cone becomes abnormally concaved or hollowed out the overhanging ends of the yarn layers composing the body of the cone will not have sufficient support to hold them in place and are liable to slough oif or break down, thereby interfering with .the delivery of the yarn when the cone is unwound.

My present improvement is intended articularly to correct this condition, that IS to prevent the soft, unstable formation of the yarn-mass at the nose end of the cone by regulating its concavit within prescribed limits as adapted to g1ve the best results. The method of attaining this object consists in controlling the relative displacement between the cone-holder and the path of traverse of the thread-guide throughout the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27,1920.

Application filed October 7, 1916. Serial No. 124,873.

building of the cone, whereby the layers of wlnding are prevented from advancing at a too rapid rate toward its nose or apex end as more fully'explained hereinafter.

he manner and means for accomplishing this result are fully described in the following specification, illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate ,like parts. In the drawings Figure 1 is a'plan view of the essential elements of a well known cone-winder, showing my improvement applied thereto;

Fig. 2, an end view of the same;

Fig. 3, a plan view of a slightly modified form of cone-holder support with my improvement shown in connection therewith;

Fig. 4:, a plan view of a still different arrangement of the cone-holder support; and

Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8, diagrammatic views indicating the method of operation of my improved device, and the result it effects in the formation of the cone.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, D designates the cylindrical drivin -roll or drum from which the cone or pac age is driven, and G the traversing thread-guide which is reciprocated longitudinally of the -cone holder C to deposit the yarn in place thereon.- The drive-roll D may be rotated through any suitable means, as usually provided, but not herein shown or described;

type of friction-drive and the thread-guide G is preferably mountequivalent as well known in the art. As

shown in Fig. 1, the cone-holder C on which the package is wound comprises a tapered mandrel rotatably mounted on a spindle S held fast at its end in a hinged arm A. The arm A is pivotally mounted on a horizontal rod or-shaft F to adapt'the cone-holder C to swing upwardly from the drive-roll D as the package increases in diameter. As here illustrated the arm A is constructed in two parts a and a, with the spindle-support a swiveled in the end of the main part a to allow for an increase in the angle of inclination of the cone-holder C with respect to the axis of the drive-roll D as it recedes therefrom; l

The thread-guide G is preferably curved around the periphery of the drive-roll D to bring its upper end in position adjacent the most instances additional mechanism is provided for depositing a greater mass of yarn at the base end of the cone than at its apex end to effect its building with a gradually increasing taper or conicity. This last result may be accomplished in several ways: For instance in my U. S. Patent No. 766,175, granted Aug. 2, 1904, there is described a method of increasing the angle or pitch of the coils of winding from the base to the nose end of the cone throughout its building to deposit a thicker body of yarn toward the larger end of the package. This result is accomplished by providing for a differential speed of traverse of the thread-guide as explained in my U. S. Patent No. 747,404, granted Dec. 22,1903. That is to say, the speed of movement of the guide is increased as it moves toward the apex of the cone, and retarded in the opposite direction, whereby the helical coils of winding are given a greater angle of inclination at the small end of the cone so that the yarn is laid more compactly and builds up faster at the base than at the nose.

Anothermethod of increasing the taper of the cone during its building is described in my ending application for U. S. Patent, Serial I10. 79,412, filed Feb. 19, 1916. This consists in progressively shortening and lengthening the traverse of the yarn at the apex end of the cone at intervals of the winding, whereby certain of the layers are stepped back toward the base of the cone, resulting in depositing a greater thickness of yarn at this end and a consequent increase in the taper on the outside of the cone. 7

Either of the above described methods,

' or any other, may be employed in connection with the winding apparatus herein shown and it will be obvious that as the taper of the cone increases during its building its mandrel or holder C must be allowed to tilt in order to maintain the surface of the winding constantly in contact with the periphery of the drive-roll D.

The swiveled mounting of the outer end of the arm A, Figs. 1 and 2, provides for this tilting action of the cone-holder C, as the axis of the cone increases its angle of inclination to the surface of the drive-roll D, and it 's to be noted that another effect is thereby produced. As the base end of the cone-holder C swings upwardly at a faster 'rate than that of the small end, with the axis of the cone becoming more and more inclined to the drive-roll D, the. point of the cone-holder will normally be graduall Withdrawn or displaced along the roll in the direction indicated'by the arrow 2, Fig. 1. In the present type of machine, where the cone-supporting arm A swings upwardly in a fixed plane the cone-holder G is carried in such a path that succeeding lavers of the cone are deposited in advanced relation one to another toward its apex end. That is to say, the traverse of the yarn is displaced away from the base end of the cone causing the layers of yarn to overhang at the apex end and result-ing in the concavo-convex shape of the ends of the finished package as illustrated by dash lines in Fig. 5. This effect of concavoconvexly shaping the ends of the cone is common to substantially all types of conewinders operating on the drum or frictiondrive principle since the cone-holder must always recede' from the drive-roll with its axis inclined thereto. A normal amount of convexity at the base of the cone is of advantage since it provides for setting the package on its end in delivering the yarn therefrom without hindrance in drawing off the coils. Y

In machines of the type in which the side of the cone-holder remains parallel with the surface of the drive-roll during its recession therefrom the ends of the yarn layers will be disposed in planes perpendicular to the surface of the cone-holder. In other words, the ends of the layers will aline in planes at substantially night-angles to a line drawn through the surface of the coneholder longitudinally of its axis, see full lines in Fig. 8. lVhen, however, the coneholder C is constantly tilted, to increase the angle of'inclination of its axis to the drive-roll, see Fi 5, then.- the layers of winding will be isplaced to a greater extent away from the base of the holder giving the result illustrated graphically by the dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 8. Fig. 5 illustrates the cone-holder C carried by an arm A, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, with means to allow for the tilting of its axis as it recedes from the drive-roll D. This angular displacement of the coneholder C is caused by the increase in taper ofthe outside of the cone, aspreviously explained, and the effect of this on the ends of the cone is as follows: As the small end of the as indicated at X-X, Fig. 5, the tilting apex end of the cone and consequentl increasesthe convexity of its base an the concavity of its nose, as represented by the dash-lines in Fig. 5, which illustrate the form of the completed package.

As before indicated a slight degree of concavo-convexity atthe ends of the cone is desirable; but when the nose end of the cone becomes abnormally concaved, in increasing the taper of the outside of the package to the desired extent, it results in an unstable structure of the yarn-mass without suflicient support for the outer layers to prevent them from falling over or becoming displaced.

. In other words, if the apex'end of the cone clined cam-slot 72, preferably of is abnormally concaved or hollowed out the coils of winding will not be properly supported and held in place and the nose of the cone will become soft, spongy and malformed, preventing a free delivery of' the yarn and detracting from the appearance and utility of the finished package.

To correct this condition, that is the abnormal concavity of the nose of the cone, I have devised -a means for preventing the longitudinal recession or rearward displacement of the cone-holder with respect to the path of traverse of the thread=guide. Referring again to Figs. 1 and 2, the arm A has its hub a bored to fit the longitudinal rod F on which it pivots and on the to of the hub is secured a curved plate P. he rod F is usually supported in fixed brackets or standards, one of which is shown at R, and the plate P overhangs the side of the hub a and extends abovethe top of the hub or bearing 1' on the bracket R. Formed in the overhanging portion of the plate P is an inslightly arcuate contour, and a pin 37' driven into the hub 1 projects through the cam-slot p in engagement with the curved sides thereof- The hub a of the arm A is free to slide on the rod' F during its pivotal movement about its axis and as the arm-swings upwardly the pin p will act on the cam-plate P tomove the arm bodily in the direction indicated by the arrow 3, Fig. 1. This lateral, sliding movement of the arm A acts to displace the cone-holder C longitudinally in the same direction and'the effect of this on the formation of the cone is as follows:

Referring to Fig. 6, as the yarn .is built up on the tapered mandrel or cone-holder C the arm A swings upwardly while maintaining the surface of the winding constantly in contact with the periphery of the drive-roll D. Meanwhile the axis of the cone-holder C gradually assumes agreater inclination to along the axis of the drive-roll D.

centricity of the cam-slot p is preferably arranged to cause the pivoted support a of the cone-holder U to travel in an arcuate path, represented by line Z-Z, Fig. 6, and to displace the cone-holder C to such an extent that the ends of the layers of the winding fall in planes perpendicular to the side of the holder. in other words, the position relation to the ends of travel of the threadguide, indicated at z-z, Fig. 6, that the ends of the layers of winding will aline in perpendicular relation to the surface of the older. It has been found in practice that with this arrangement of the mechanism the relatively slight concavo-convexity of the ends of the cone provides the improved results desired, but it will be obvious the degree of concavitv and convexity ma be varied slightly within certain limits i desired. Fig. 8 illustrates the improved form of cone produced by the present invention as compared graphically with the usual conformation. In this diagram the full lines represent the outline of the cone with the preferred de ree of concavo-convexity at its ends, while the 'dot-and-dash lines show an a. The cone-holder or mandrel C is provided with pintles or trunnions t, t at either end journaled in bearings at the ends of the arms a a. of the yoke A. As the arm A swings upwardly on the fixed rod F the yoke A swivels on the pivot 70' to provide for the tilting of the cone-holder U as the surface of the winding changes in taper. With this arrangement of the cone-holder support the cam-slot p is formed in the hub 0a of the arm A while the pin [2 is driven into the rod The pin p will therefore act directly on the hub a to shift the arm A and the coneholder 0 in the manner and for the purpose as before explained. v

Fig. 4 shows a still further modification in the arrangement of the cone-holder support and this construction I regard as the preferred'embodiment of my present invenof the cone-holder C is maintained in such tion. The arm A has substantially-the same arrangement as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, with the cone-holder spindle S hinged to the end of its swiveled extension a at s. The coneholder 0 is also supported at its opposite apex end by a separate arm E. The arm is pivoted ona fixed rod F arranged parallel with and below the rod and is jointed at e to provide the hinged latch or extension E. The latch E may be swung back to allow for the insertion of the end of the coneholder in its hearing or for its withdrawal therefrom in applying or removing the conetube fromits support. A spring e tends to maintain the two parts of the arm E in .alinement to retain the cone-holder in place in its bearings and the latch E moves with and as a part of the main pivoted portion E. The cam-plate P is applied to the arm A which is free to slide on its pivot-rod F, but the arm E has no sliding movement, being held on its rod F by the collars f, f. As the arm E is shifted laterally, however, as before explained, the sli ht, longitudinal displacement of the coneolder at its small end is provided for by the swinging of the latch E on its hinge e.

The purpose of pivoting the arm E on an axis below that of the arm A is to provide for different paths of movement of the base and apex ends of the holder C. Through this improved arrangement the line of contact of the surface of the winding with the periphery of the drive-roll D is maintained substantially parallel with the axis of the roll. Where both ends of the cone-holder swing on the same center and follow the same are the cone will be twisted laterally in relation to the drive-roll during its recession therefrom. That is to say, the line of contact of the cone on the drive-roll will not be maintained in a plane parallel with the axis of the roll, but on the contrary the ends of the cone will swing off to one side of the true line of contact. This result is objectionable because it reduces .the frictional driving contact at one end of the cone, thus causing a slippage which abrades the yarn and also tends to reduce the speed of rotation of the package. This twisting of the cone on the drive-roll is further accentu-= ated when the. base of the cone-holder recedes from the drive-roll at a faster .rate than that of the apex end. Fig. 7 illustrates diagrammatically the effect of pivoting the opposite ends of the cone-holder on different axes. In this arm A which supports the base end of the cone, and 5 is the axis of the arm E which supports the apex end. The cone-holder ,U

is represented by full lines as resting on the drive-roll D and the arcs 6-7 and 8-9 show the path of travel of the small. end and large end of the cone respectively. From 6 the center of the small end of the holder 0 diagram, 4 is the axis of the swings to 7 in winding the full package and the center of the large end swlngs rom 8 to 9. Through this arrangement the axis of the cone will alwa s be maintained in a plane coincident wit the axis 10 of the drive-roll D as indicated by the dot-anddash lines 1011 and 1012. In other words the axis of the cone is maintained constantly coincident with the radial plane of the axis of the drive-roll and hence the line of contact of the cone on the roll is alwa s in alinement with the axis of the -roll. n this way the cone is prevented from twisting laterall on the drive-roll during the rowth in t e winding and hence the drivmg contact is maintained more uniform and constant.-

. Through the above described improvements I am enabled to wind a cone having a constantly increasing taper from its core to its periphery without causing its nose end 'to be abnormally concaved. That is to say,

the taper of the surface of the winding may be increased to the required extent without increasing the concavo-convexity of the ends of the cone beyond what is required to pro-. vide the advantages desired. ,In addition, the preferred method of supporting the cone-holder as last described provides for a better d'rivin contact between the cone and the drive-r0 and therefore results in a more uniform disposition of the coils of winding and less danger of abrading or stretching the yarn during its handling.

Various modifications other than those herein shown might be made in the structure and arrangement of the winding-mechanism without departing from the splrit or scope of the invention; therefore, without limiting myself to the .exact embodiment disclosed, what I claim is z- 1. In a winding machine, the combination with a rotatable cone-holder on which the cone is wound with a gradually increasing. taper on its surface, of means for traversing the yarn longitudinally of the holder,- and means for continuousl displacing the holder in the direction 0 its apex' throng out the winding to regulate the dispositlon of the layers of yarn in their overlapped relation to prevent the nose of the cone from becoming abnormally concaved.

1 2. In a winding machine,.the combination with a rotatable cone-holder, on which the cone is wound with a gradually increasing taper on its surface, a drive-roll for rotating said cone-holder, and means for traversing the yarn longitudinally of the holder, of means for shifting the holder bodily in the direction of its apex throughout the building of the cone to regulate the disposition of. the layers of winding and prevent-their longitudinal displacement from causing an abnormal concavity at the nose end of the 00119,

3. In a winding machine, the combination with a conical winding-mandrel, of means to rotate the mandrel to wind the yarn thereon, means to traverse the yarn longitudlnally of the mandrel to dispose it in superimposed layers forming a tapered body with concavo-convex ends and with its periphery increasing in taper, and means to.

gradually dis lace .the Winding-mandrel longltudlnally 1n the direction of its apex to regulate the disposition of the layers of winding in relation to each other to prevent an extreme concavity at the nose of the cone.

4. In a winding machine, the combination with a conical cop-holder, of a drive-roll for rotating the holder, a reciprocating threadguide for traversing the yarn on the holder to builda cone with its periphery gradually increasing in taper, and means influenced by the growth in diameter of the yarn wound on the holder to displace the latter in the direction of its apex during, the building of the cone to regulate the overlap of the layers of winding and prevent the formation of an abnormally concaved end at the nose of the cone.

v 5. In a winding machine, the combination with a rotatable cone-holder, of adriveroll for rotating the cone-holder through peripheral contact with the'yarn wound thereon, means to traverse the yarn longitudinally of the holder to deposit it in layers which gradually increase in taper throughout the winding, means for allowing the holder to recede from the drive-roll during the increase in diameter of the winding, and means operated from said receding movement to shift the cone-holder longitudinally in the direction of its apex to regulate the disposition of the layers of winding to control the concavo-convex formation of the cone at its ends.

6. In a winding machine, the combination with a rotatable cone-holder,'of a drive-roll for rotating the holder to deposit it in layers which gradually ing the holder to adaptit to recede rom the drive-roll as the winding increases in diameter, and means to shift said supporting-means. laterally during the receding movement of the holder to gradually displace the cone in the direction of its apex ongitudinally of the drive-roll.

7. In a windin machine, the combination with a rotatab e cone-holder, of adriveroll for rotating the holder, means to traverse the yarn on'the holder to deposit it in increase in taper, throughout the windmg, means to traverse layers which. gradually increase in taper' throughout the winding, a ivoted arm for supporting the holder to a apt it to recede from the drive-roll as the winding increases in diameter, and means to displace the arm along-its pivot to shift the cone-holder in the direction of its apex to-control the disposition of the layers of yarn in the cone to regulate the degree of concavo-convexity of its ends. 1 v

8. In a winding machine, the combination 'with a rotatable cone-holder, of a drive-roll for rotating the holder, means for traversing the yarn on the holder to deposit it in layers which gradually increase in taper throughout the winding, a swinging arm for supportingthe holder to adapt it to recede from the drive-roll with the growth in the winding,'and a pin engaging a cam-slot on the arm to adapt the latter to be displaced laterally throughout its swinging movement to shift the cone-holder longitudinally in the direction of its apex during the building of' the cone.

9. In a winding machine, the combination with a rotatable cone-holder, of a drive-roll for driving the holder, means for traversing the yarn on the holder, an arm pivoted on an axis at a distance from the drive-roll and carrying means for supporting one end of the cone-holder, and a second arm also pivoted at a distance from the drive-roll on an axis out of alinement with the axis of the first arm and carrying means for supporting the opposite end of the cone-holder, said arms' being independently movable to 4 adapt their ends to swing in eccentric arcs holder, means for'traversing the yarn lon gitudinally of the holder, and two separate independently-movable arms for sup orting the opposite ends of the cone-ho der to adapt it to recede from the drive-roll as the cone increases in diameter, said arms'being pivoted on difierent axes which are out of alinement to cause the ends of the holder to swingin eccentric arcs whereby its axis is maintained constantly in alinement with the axis of the drive-roll throughout its receding movement therefrom.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

GEORGE W. FOSTER. 

